When you’re a kid, well, you’re a kid and don’t understand the meaning of life. Not that I do half a century into it. For me it was taught as a matter of Catholic faith. Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Priesthood, Last Rites.
I always wondered why those events are so important. I missed my Confirmation because there were two churches in our small town so they only held Confirmations every other year and because we moved, I missed both. Is that a sin?
Birth, death, marriage, children, are what lives are made of. Engagement is a symbol of hope in the future (also a call for tea services and small appliances). When a family member dies, a friend gets divorced or another’s mother dies, each is a life-changing event. These are the ways we measure our lives, as I awakened one morning to realize it would have been my parents’ 50th anniversary had they not been divorced 15 years and my mother was dying.
That was a party I’d planned in my head since I was a teenager. I wanted to give my parents a perfect golden anniversary. But that was my dream, not theirs.
Mom’s gone now, and Dad is on a ship in the middle east? As far as I know he’s not being held hostage, as he probably wears a tux to dinner. Marriage is another story, and it does change a relationship as I know as my husband and best friend is about to walk through the door to a fabulous dinner.
Our milestones are our own, but we get to share them with others, good and bad. This blog goes out to MB and the family of Katherine, who died at her home at age 92 after a long, good, Iowa life with loving family and friends. May she rest in peace knowing that she was loved. Best wishes to anyone going through a life change. Dee
Cooking with Dee 